Many pathology specimens are prepared as glass slides, in preparation for examination with optical microscopy. Large collections of glass slides, such as the Juan Rosai Collection, represent extremely valuable bodies of knowledge. However, slides are subject to breakage, being lost, having their stains bleach over time, having the tissue deteriorate, and other processes which degrade or destroy the information they contain. In addition, collections of glass slides require significant physical storage space and the cabinets holding such collections are heavy, thereby limiting the locations in which they can be placed. Physical slide collections are also difficult to search for information. Expensive external systems are often required to index slides and maintain the information systems which describe their contents. The nature of physical slide collections also limit access to them, since anyone who wishes to examine the information on a slide must be in the same physical location as the slide. Shipping slides to share their information is expensive and removes them from the collection, preventing anyone else from accessing them. Furthermore, physical slide collections are often distributed across different physical locations. This makes it difficult for students, educators, pathologists, scientists, and others to search for information across multiple collections.
Digitizing physical slide collections holds the promise of indefinitely preserving the information contained in such collections. However, such digital collections are still distributed in nature (e.g., across numerous, disparate information systems of multiple, unrelated laboratories, hospitals, etc.), making it difficult to search across multiple collections. What is needed is a system or method for aggregating, organizing, and managing digital slide collections, so that they may be easily and efficiently searched and otherwise utilized.